Each week, about 170 Spring Grove families get a box of food from their local food pantry.

Now, post holiday season, the Northern Illinois Helping Hands Food Pantry is asking its donors to remember them again so they can continue to help those neighbors.

“We had a very, very busy December, and with the weather the way it is, and with people out of work ... all of the food pantries are in need of donations,” said Deborah Christian. She is a board member who also does the pantry’s social media posts.

On Monday, she wrote a plea for help and posted it to the pantry Facebook page.

“We are in urgent need of commercially wrapped and labeled meats,” the post reads, adding that meats are accepted Tuesdays and Thursdays at their location, 2020 Route 12, Unit B, in Spring Grove.

The post goes on to request other “high-priority items” including “spaghetti noodles, diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce with meat, and hearty meat and vegetable soup suitable for dinner.”

So far, operators have gotten “big responses” to the post, Christian said. “A lot of Cub Scouts, schools, churches ... have said they are going to help.”

Their clients are asked to come on Tuesdays or Thursdays between 4 to 6:30 p.m., when they are given a box of food. The pantry hands out about 350 boxes for clients each month, said board treasurer Bill Rudzena.

Because of the limited parking space at the location, clients park at the nearby Jewel Foods and are alerted when they can drive up to pick up their food.

Operators have seen an increase in clients of about 15% “over the last three months or so,” Rudzena said.

It is not the only food pantry serving the area, but The Community Food Pantry of Richmond and Spring Grove requires proof of need and proof of residency, or that they attend a Richmond church, board member Bob Stevens said.

That pantry was created by three Richmond churches and is not a part of the Northern Illinois Food Bank system. Local school and Boy Scout food drives keep them stocked, Stevens said, but added their leaner months come in the summer.

“Local schools and Scouts don’t do food drives and are not as active in the summer,” he said.

A majority - up to 85% – of their clients are senior citizens, many of whom have a hard time asking for help.

“They don’t want their neighbors to know they need help, but they should be asking for help if they need it,” Stevens said.

Both organizations said canned good and financial donations are at the top of their lists right now. Neither has a way to take electronic cash donations, however.

Donations to The Community Food Pantry of Richmond and Spring Grove can be dropped off at donation boxes at either town village halls, or sent to P.O. Box 78, Richmond IL 60071.

Donations to Spring Grove’s Northern Illinois Helping Hands Food Pantry can be dropped on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or donations can be mailed to, 2020 U.S. Rt 12 Unit B, P.O. Box 132 Spring Grove, IL, 60081.